2015 S-47 ReplacementLAM 3/16
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA
Instruction Sheet
2015 S-47 Replacement
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TITLE 19: ZONING
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19.08.010
CHAPTER 19.08: DEFINITIONS
Section
19.08.010
19.08.020
19.08.030
Appendix A:
AppendixB:
Appendix C:
Appendix D:
Purpose and applicability.
General rules for construction of
language.
Definitions.
Cupertino Standard Detail 7-2 Corner
Triangle -Controlled Intersections.
Cupertino Standard Detail 7-4 Corner
Triangle -Uncontrolled Intersections.
Cupertino Standard Detail 7-6
Sidewalk Site Triangle (Sidewalk
Clearance at Driveways).
Examples of How to Measure Sign
Area.
19.08.010 Purpose and Applicability.
The purpose of this chapter is to promote consistency
and precision in the interpretation of zoning regulations.
The meaning and construction of words and phrases defined
in this chapter shall apply throughout the zoning regulations,
except where the context of such word or phrases clearly
indicates a different meaning or construction. (Ord.
14-2125, § 3 (part), 2014; Ord. 2085, § 2 (part), 2011; Ord.
1601, Exh. A (part), 1992)
19.08.020 General Rules for Construction of
Language.
The following general rules of construction shall apply
to the text of the zoning regulations:
A. The particular shall control the general.
B. In case of any difference of meaning or
implication between the text of any provision and any
caption or illustration, the text shall control.
C. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not
discretionary. The word "may" is discretionary.
D. References in the masculine and feminine genders
are interchangeable.
E. Words used in the singular include the plural, and
the plural includes the singular, unless the context clearly
indicates the contrary.
F. The words "activities" and "facilities" include any
part thereof.
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G. Unless the context clearly indicates to the
contrary, the following conjunctions shall be interpreted as
follows:
1. "And" indicates that all connected items or
provisions shall apply;
2. "Or" indicates that the connected items or
provisions may apply singly or in any combination;
3. "Either ... or" indicates that the connected items
or provisions shall apply singly but not in combination.
H. The words "lot" and "parcel" are interchangeable.
I. The word "building" includes the word
"structure."
J. All public officials, bodies, and agencies to which
reference is made are those of the City unless otherwise
indicated.
K. "City" means the City of Cupertino. (Ord.
14-2125, § 3 (part), 2014; Ord. 2085, § 2 (part), 2011; Ord.
1601, Exh. A (part), 1992)
19.08.030 Definitions.
Throughout this title the following words and phrases
shall have the meanings ascribed in this section.
A. "A" Definitions:
"Abandon" means to cease or discontinue a use or
activity without intent to resume, but excluding temporary
or short-term interruptions to a use or activity during periods
of remodeling, maintaining, or otherwise improving or
rearranging a facility, or during normal periods of vacation
or seasonal closure.
"Abutting" means having property or district lines in
common.
"Accessory building" means a building which is
incidental to and customarily associated with a specific
principal use or facility and which meets the applicable
conditions set forth in Chapter 19 .100.
"Accessory structure" means a subordinate structure,
the use of which is purely incidental to that of the main
building and which shall not contain living or sleeping
quarters. Examples include a deck, tennis courts, trellis or
car shelter. Fences eight feet or less are excluded.
"Addition" means any construction which increases the
size of a building or facility in terms of site coverage,
height, length, width, or gross floor area ratio.
19.08.030 Cupertino -Zoning 6
"Adjacent property" means property that abuts the
subject property, including property whose only contiguity
to the subject site is a single point and property directly
opposite the subject property and located across a street.
"Adult bookstore" means a building or portion thereof
used by an establishment having as a substantial or
significant portion of its stock in trade for sale to the public
or certain members thereof, books, magazines, and other
publications which are distinguished or characterized by
their emphasis on matter depicting, describing or relating to
"specified sexual activities" or "specified anatomical areas,"
as hereinafter defined.
"Adult cabaret" means a building or portion thereof
used for dancing purposes thereof or area used for
presentation or exhibition or featuring of topless or
bottomless dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators
or similar entertainers, for observations by patrons or
customers.
"Adult motion picture theater" means a building or
portion thereof or area, open or enclosed, used for the
presentation of motion pictures distinguished or
characterized by an emphasis on matter depicting, describing
or relating to "specified sexual activities" or "specified
anatomical areas," as hereinafter defined, for observation by
patrons or customers.
"Advertising statuary" means a structure or device of
any kind or character for outdoor advertising purposes
which displays or promotes a particular product or service,
but without name identification.
"Aerial" means a stationary transmitting and/or
receiving wireless communication device consisting of one
or any combination of the elements listed below:
1. "Antenna" means a horizontal or vertical element
or array, panel or dish that may be attached to a mast or a
tower for the purpose of transmitting or receiving radio or
microwave frequency signals.
2. "Mast" means a vertical element consisting of a
tube or rod which supports an antenna.
3. "Tower" means a vertical framework of cross
elements which supports either an antenna, mast or both.
4. "Guy wires" means wires necessary to insure the
safety and stability of an antenna, mast or both.
"Affordable housing cost" means the amount set forth
in the Health and Safety Code Section 50052.5, as may be
amended.
"Affordable rent" means the amount set forth in the
Health and Safety Code Section 50053, as may be amended.
"Affordable units" means housing units in which the
rent does not exceed thirty percent of the HUD income
limits for lower and very low income households for the
Santa Clara County Metropolitan Statistical Area, adjusted
for household size.
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"Agriculture" means the tilling of the soil, the raising
of crops, horticulture, agriculture, livestock farming,
dairying, or animal husbandry, including slaughterhouses,
fertilizer yards, bone yard, or plants for the reduction of
animal matter or any other similar use.
"Alley" means a public or private vehicular way less
than thirty feet in width affording a secondary means of
vehicular access to abutting property.
"Alteration", for purposes of the Sign Ordinance,
means any permanent change to a sign.
"Alteration" means any construction or physical change
in the arrangement of rooms or the supporting members of
a building or structure, or change in the relative position of
buildings or structures on a site, or substantial change in
appearances of any building or structure.
1. "Incidental alteration" means any alteration to
interior partitions or interior supporting members of a
structure which does not increase the structural strength of
the structure; any alteration to electrical, plumbing, heating,
air conditioning, ventilating, or other utility services,
fixtures, or appliances; any addition, closing, or change in
size of doors or windows in the exterior walls; or any
replacement of a building facade which does not increase the
structural strength of the structure.
2. "Structural alteration" means any alteration not
deemed an incidental alteration.
"Amusement park" means a commercial facility which
supplies various forms of indoor and outdoor entertainment
and refreshments.
Animal:
1. Animal, Adult. "Adult animal" means any animal
four months of age or older.
2. Animal, Large. "Large animal" means any
equine, bovine, sheep, goat or swine or similar domestic or
wild animal, as determined by the Planning Commission.
3. Animal, Small. "Small animal" means animals
which are commonly found in single-family residential areas
such as chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, dogs, cats, etc.
"Animal care" means a use providing grooming,
housing, medical care, or other services to animals,
including veterinary services, animal hospitals, overnight or
short-term boarding ancillary to veterinary care, indoor or
outdoor kennels, and similar services.
"Apartment" means a room or a suite of two or more
rooms which is designed for, intended for, and occupied by
one family doing its cooking there.
"Apartment house" means a building designed and used
to house three or more families, living independently of each
other.
"Apartment project" means a rental housing
development consisting of two or more dwelling units.
"Approval Body" means the Director of Community
Development and his/her designee, the Planning
Commission or City Council depending upon context.
17 Definitions 19.08.030
"Second dwelling unit" means an attached or a
detached residential dwelling unit which provides complete
independent living facilities for one or more persons. It
shall include permanent provisions for living, sleeping,
eating, cooking and sanitation on the same parcel as the
single-family dwelling is situated.
"Senior citizens" means:
1. Persons at least sixty-two years of age; or
2. Persons at least fifty-five years of age in a senior
citizen housing development, in accordance with State and
federal law.
"Senior citizen housing development" means a housing
development with at least thirty-five dwelling units as
defined in the Civil Cbde Section 51.3, or a mobilehome
park that limits residency based on age requirements for
housing for older persons pursuant to Section 798.76 or
799.5 of the Civil Code, as may be amended.
"Setback line" means a line within a lot parallel to a
corresponding lot line, which is the boundary of any
specified front, side or rear yard, or the boundary of any
public right-of-way or private road, whether acquired in fee,
easement, or otherwise, or a line otherwise established to
govern the location of buildings, structures or uses. Where
no minimum front, side or rear yards are specified, the
setback line shall be cotenninous with the corresponding lot
line.
Setback Area, Required. "Required setback area"
means open space, unoccupied and unobstructed from the
ground upward, except as provided in this title, between the
lot line and the setback line on the same parcel.
1. Setback Area, Required Front Yard. "Required
front-yard setback area" means the setback area extending
across the front of a lot between the front lot line and the
setback line. Front yards shall be measured either by a line
at right angles to the front lot line, or by a radial line in the
case of a curved front lot line, except flag lots which is the
area extending across the full extent of the buildable portion
of the flag lot measured from the property line which is
parallel to and nearest the street line and at which point the
lot width equals a minimum of sixty feet. The Director of
Community Development shall have the discretion to modify
the provisions of this definition when it improves the design
relationship of the proposed buildings to adjacent buildings
or parcels.
2. Setback Area, Required Rear Yard. "Required
rear-yard setback area" means the area extending across the
full width of the lot between the rear lot line and the nearest
line or point of the main building.
3. Setback Area, Required Side Yard. "Required
side-yard setback area" means the area between the side lot
line and the nearest line of a building, and extending from
the front setback line to the rear setback line.
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"Shopping center" means a group of commercial
establishments, planned, developed, owned or managed as
a unit, with off-street parking provided on the parcel.
"Shopping center, " for purposes of the Sign Ordinance,
means a retail entity encompassing three or more tenants
within a single building or group of buildings, but within
which individual business located in defined tenant spacesare
owned and managed separately from the shopping center
management.
"Sidewalk site triangle" is a triangular shaped area
described in Cupertino Standard Detail 7-6. (See Appendix
C, Cupertino Standard Detail; Sidewalk Site Triangle
(SiP,ewalk Clearance at Driveway)).
"Sign" means any device, fixture, placard, or structure
that uses any color, form, graphic, illumination, symbol, or
writing to advertise, announce the purpose of, or identify the
purpose of a person or entity, to communicate information
of any kind to the public.
1. "Animated sign" means any sign which projects
action, motion or the illusion thereof, changes intensity of
illumination or changes colors, including the likes of
balloons, banners and flags, and blowing or air-powered
attractions, but excluding electronic readerboard signs and
signs that display the current time or temperature.
2. "Blade sign" means a pedestrian oriented sign,
adjacent to a pedestrian walkway or sidewalk, attached to a
building wall, marquee, awning or arcade with the exposed
face of the sign in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the
building wall.
3. "Development identification sign" means a
grom1d sign at the major entry to a residential development
with twenty units or more meant to identify the name and
address of the development.
4. "Directional sign" means any sign which
primarily displays directions to a particular area, location or
site.
5. "Directory sign" means any outdoor listing of
occupants of a building or group of buildings.
6. "Electronic readerboard sign" means an electronic
sign intended for a periodically-changing advertising
message.
7. "Freeway oriented sign" means any sign which is
located within six hundred sixty feet and visible from a
freeway right-of-way as defined by Section 5200 of the
California Business and Professions Code.
8. "Garage sale signs" means any sign used for
advertising a garage or patio sale as defined in Chapter 5.16
of the Cupertino Municipal Code.
9. "Ground sign" means any sign permanently
affixed to the ground and not supported by a building
structure. The height of the sign shall be measured from the
grade of the adjoining closest sidewalk to the top of the sign
including trim.
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10. "Identification sign" means any sign whose sole
purpose is to display the name of the site and the names of
the occupants, their products or their services.
11. "Illegal sign" means any sign or advertising
statuary which was not lawfully erected, maintained, or was
not in conformance with the provisions of this title in effect
at the time of the erection of the sign or advertising statuary
or which was not installed with a valid permit from the City.
12. "Illuminated sign" means any sign utilizing an
artificial source of light to enhance its visibility.
13. "Informational sign" means any sign which
promotes no products or services, but displays service or
general information to the public, including the likes of
hours of operation, rest room identifications and hazardous
warnings.
14. "Landmark sign" means an existing, legal
non-conforming ground sign that has a distinctive
architectural style.
15. "Nonconforming sign" means any sign or
advertising statuary that was legally erected and had
obtained a valid permit in conformance with the ordinance
in effect at the time of the erection of the sign but which
became nonconforming due to the adoption of the ordinance
codified in this title.
16. "Obsolete sign" means any sign that displays
incorrect or misleading information, promotes products or
services no longer available at that site or identifies departed
occupants.
17. "Off-site sign" means any sign not located on the
premises of the business or entity indicated or advertised by
the sign. This definition shall include billboards, poster
panels, painted bulletins and other similar advertising
displays.
18. "On-site sign" means a sign directing attention to
a business, commodity, service or entertaimnent conducted,
sold or offered upon the same premises as those upon which
the sign is maintained.
19. "Political sign" means a temporary sign that
encourages a particular vote in a scheduled election and is
posted prior to the scheduled election.
20. "Portable sign or display" means any outdoor sign
or display not permanently attached to the ground or a
structure on the premises it is intended to occupy and
displayed only during business hours. Portable sign or
display includes A-frames, flower carts, statues, and other
similar devices used for advertising as determined by the
Director.
21. "Project announcement sign" means any
temporary sign that displays information pertinent to a
current or future site of construction, including the likes of
the project name, developers, owners and operators,
completion dates, availability and occupants.
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22. "Projecting sign" means any sign other than a
wall sign that is attached to and projects from a structure or
building face or wall.
23. "Real estate sign" means a temporary sign
indicating that a particular premises is for sale, lease or rent.
24. "Roof sign" means a sign erected between the
lowest and highest points of a roof.
25. "Street address sign" means any sign that displays
only the street address number(s) of the site and, at the
option of the property owner, the street name.
26. "Temporary sign" means any sign, display,
banner or promotional device which is designed or intended
to be displayed only during the allowable business hours or
for short periods of time as specified by the Director of
Community Development.
27. "V-shaped signs" means any sign consisting of
two vertical faces, or essentially vertical faces, with one
common edge and which appears as the letter V when
viewed directly from above.
28. "Vehicle sign" means a sign painted on or
attached to an operable or movable vehicle; in the case of
motor vehicles, "operable" shall be defined as having a valid
license plate.
29. "Wall sign" means any sign that is attached,
erected or painted on a structure attached to a building, a
canopy structure, or the exterior wall of a building with the
exposed face of the sign parallel to the wall.
30. "Window sign" means any sign that is intended to
be read from outside of the structure or painted on a window
facing a public street, parking lot, pedestrian plaza or
walkway accessible to the public.
"Sign area" for an individually lettered sign without a
background, is measured by enclosing the sign copy with a
continuous perimeter in simple rectilinear forms. (See
Appendix D for examples of sign area calculation.)
The sign area for a sign with borders and/or
background is measured by enclosing the exterior limits of
the border or background with a single continuous
perimeter. The necessary supports, uprights, and/or the
base on which such sign is placed, shall be excluded from
the sign area.
When a sign is separated by thirty-six inches or more,
the area of each part may be computed separately.
"Single-family use" means the use of a parcel for only
one dwelling unit.
"Specialty food stores" means uses such as bakeries,
donut shops, ice cream stores, produce markets and meat
markets, or similar establishments where food is prepared
and/or sold primarily for consumption off the premises.
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